


Memories

by Doombunny



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-19
Updated: 2019-12-19
Packaged: 2021-02-26 16:14:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21861067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doombunny/pseuds/Doombunny
Summary: This was written for the 25 days of Christmas Challenge that is hosted by  @panicfob .  The Day 19 Challenge prompt was Figgy Pudding.  Figgy pudding is something I very much enjoy at Christmas.  It was a family tradition we had that the kids helped make it with my mother/grandmotherWarnings: Some anxiety, fluff, friendshipPairing: Platonic!Bucky/OFC (Belle Porter)Summary: One of the Team is having a bad day. Belle finds a way to help them and learns a little more about an old Christmas tradition
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/OFC
Kudos: 2





	Memories

With the Christmas season well underway Belle had treated herself to a day off. All of the reports had been finalized and the threat assessments completed. Tony had asked whether she was taking the day to get his Christmas present. She had just laughed and kissed him on he cheek. He didn’t need to know that it was already fully wrapped and hidden away.

She had mostly spent the day down in what was fast becoming her old apartment grabbing items that could really use when she stayed with Tony, which was fast becoming most nights. Of course as with all such tasks she had gotten tied up looking through items and reading bits of books and had achieved a lot less than she had planned on. Deciding that she needed to take a break before really tackling the task, so she headed to the communal kitchen. 

Belle had thought that she might bump into a team member or two, but what she didn’t expect to see was what appeared to an explosion of flour and fruit and a crying super soldier in the middle of it all.

“Bucky, oh god what’s the matter?” She hurried to the older man hr hands going straight to his shoulders 

“I can’t…” he broke down into even louder sobs 

Belle had no idea what was wrong or how on earth to help the man. For a moment she thought about asking FRIDAY where Steve, but looking at how broken he seemed she didn’t want to have to wait.

“Hey Bucky, come on lets get you cleaned up and then we can work on the sides” She took his hand and gently pulled him towards the sink turning on the tap and encouraging him to rinse his hands. While she got kitchen towel to damp down and wipe off his face. The seemingly meaningless tasks seemed to ease the actual sobbing, though the tears still fell. Turning Bucky to face her she raised on her tip toes to plant a gentle kiss on his cheek. When he looked confused she pointed up at the mistletoe and gave him a soft smile.

“Come on and sit down Bucky. Tell me what’s going on”. He let her guide him towards the sofa picking up something along the way. He sat his head dropping into his hands as he drew in a shuddering breath trying to collect his thoughts. Belle just waited sat beside him one hand resting on his shoulder

“I got a call today” his voice was rough and broken “From the home that Becca is in. She, she isn’t having a good day and she was asking for our Ma, and saying it was time to make the pudding”. The tears started to fall and she shuffled a little closer giving his as much of a hug as she could

“I had forgotten about it, until I spoke to her the pudding. Ma would make it every Christmas about now and Becca and I would help her. She was crying and so sad. I said that it was ok that Ma had me do it and I’d bring it down to her. I have Becca’s things and found the recipe but I’ve tried three of four times but I can’t do it. I promised her Belle and I can’t do it. I even looked online and I can’t get one that looks like Ma’s”. The sobs started again 

Belle could feel her own eyes welling up but crying right now wouldn’t help her. Moving Belle knelt in front of Bucky both her hands wrapping around his. “Is that the recipe” She pointed to the crumpled paper in his hand. Bucky nodded “Ok so let me see”.

The recipe seemed simple, though she wasn’t familiar with all the ingredients. The steps seemed to make sense but she wanted to check

“OK I think we can do this. FRIDAY find me videos of people making traditional figgy pudding - we need one using the ingredients on this list” Belle held the list up to allow FRIDAY to scan it.

“OK Bucky here’s the plan. You and I will clean up the mess, check we have the ingredients and then we will see what we can do”

Getting Bucky on his feet took a moment but once she assigned him a task he seemed to manage better. She wondered if sometimes resorting to treating him more like a soldier made things easier when his mind was overwhelmed. It didn’t take long for them to clean up the worst of the mess and get everything prepared ready to start again. 

“I have found 3 videos that match your request Agent Porter” FRIDAY’s voice broke the silence that they had been working in

“Thank you Friday, and Belle is fine. Bucky lets look at these and see if any of them look like you remember” 

Bucky picked the one closest to what he remembered them doing when he was a child and Belle had Friday project it in the kitchen. They worked together pausing the video as they needed and comparing the video with the steps in Becca’s recipe. Eventually the puddings were ready to steam but Bucky stopped her before she could start putting them in

“I need to do one last thing, it’s a surprise.” 

Belle smiled and turned her back to give him some privacy. She could hear him rustling about and moving things

“I’m done. Can you help me tie the cloth?”

Belle nodded and helped before the put the puddings in the pots and set a timer.

“How about we have a coffee while we wait and you tell me what else you can remember about Christmas when you were younger, I bet you and Becca got up to all kinds of trouble”

By the time the timer went off Bucky had a smile on his face and was telling her about when Becca had used their mothers best makeup to decorate both herself, Bucky, Steve and the family cat

“Oh god your poor mother must had been furious, how on earth did you get the cat clean?” 

“I don’t know Ma dealt with that, but we got dish duty for weeks and I don’t think we could sit comfortably for a week”

They moved in tandem to take the puddings out, setting them to cool a little before unwrapping the smallest one and each taking a spoon.

“You first Bucky. You know what it’s supposed to taste like”. 

She watched Bucky scooped a spoon of the steamed desert. Puffed on it and then put it in his mouth. He chewed eyes closed before looking at her with a smile. 

“It’s not 100% the same but it’s close”

“I guess that the ingredients are probably a little different now, you know since we’ve changed the way we make things, and I bet your Ma added other things as she thought of them” 

“I guess so. “ Bucky rubbed at the back of his neck “Belle I’m sorry you had to see and deal with that mess”

“Hey now non of that - Christmas is hard for a lot of people and I can’t even begin to understand how you feel, whether it’s just memories that were lost, or whether it’s ones that were taken for you”. Belle wrapped an arm around Bucky’s shoulder, squeezing him a little in a side hug. 

“It’s ok to feel lost Bucky but the rest of us are happy to be there for you when that’s how you feel”

Bucky looked up through his eyelashes, and she could see that was obviously a little embarrassed about the show of emotion. 

“I get that things are different now, but it’s not all bad. It’s ok to let people see that you’re not ok”

Belle watched as Bucky looked back down and seemed to curl in on himself. Belle couldn’t help but worry that she had pushed the shy man too far

“You know I spent a lot of time not feeling anything, or feeling confused and angry. Before that I was scarred a lot, things weren’t easy and the war made everything even worse, but you couldn’t say anything. Now…now when the feelings come it ’s like a panic, I don’t know what to do with them”

Belle rested her head on Bucky’s shoulder “That’s not something that I ever really thought about, it’s not just the world that has changed, but how people deal with what they feel, that must be a million miles away what you knew. YOu’ll get there though Bucky. You’ll find what works for you”

Bucky rested his head on the top of Belle’s taking a moment of comfort “I hope so doll. Sometimes it seems like I’ll never get there” 

She felt Bucky draw in a deep breath “You know you didn’t find the surprise”

Belle gave a small laugh “You’re right. So are you gonna share what it is then, or does it have to remain a mystery?”

“Well now that’s asking. I’ll tell you what, if I show you then you need to make one promise and do one thing for me”

“That’s a steep price, but I guess to understand the special surprise in the Barnes Figgy Pudding I will probably be happy to agree, within reason” Belle found herself smiling 

“Ok well here it is. in the pudding you hide a few trinkets which all mean something a silver dollar, a button, a thimble, a ring an anchor and a wishbone”

“How on earth did you manage to hide all of that in there?” Belle gestured over to the pudding they had both take a bite from/

Bucky laughed “ Well in the trial one I only put a quarter in it that I had cleaned, the bigger one has all of the tokens in it, I put in ones that may Ma had. They’re silver and my Da had some of them made specially and the others came from their parents. The other small pudding just has a wishbone and a silver dollar in it.”

“That makes it fun I guess, but why put such odd things in a desert?”

“Well they used to mean things about the coming year. The coin made who ever found it the the King or Queen of the meal. If a single man found the button then he would be single for the rest of the year and the same thing happened if a woman found the thimble . The ring was supposed to say that who ever found it would be married, the anchor was supposed to keep you safe and protected from danger and the wishbone brought luck”

Belle looked impressed “Wow that’s amazing, I never knew that there was so much history in a pudding”

“Yeah it was a big thing and people really looked forward to having the pudding and seeing if they got a token. You have to eat carefully and at the end of dinner, people always handed their tokens back to Ma to use them for the next year”

“Thats wonderful, and the bigger pudding is….”

“I was going to serve it after dinner tomorrow. Ma made brandy sauce or custard sometimes, I mean they might think it silly but I really wanted to share it with them….but perhaps ..”

“That’s wonderful Bucky I think that everyone will love it, and you can tell them about what the tokens mean. I think it’s a beautiful thing to share” Belle squeeze him in another hug

“So that’s the promise but what about the last part of the deal?” Belle sat up and poked him in the side “Come on what nefarious deed do I have to complete?”

Bucky jerked a little at her poke pushing his hair out of his face and giving Belle a smile “ Ah yes, it is cunning and most devious. We are going to ….. go and visit Becca in the home and take the smaller pudding to her. I …. I find it harder when she is having a bad day”

“Oh Bucky really? You’re really ok with coming ?” Belle found herself grinning and nearly bouncing in place

“Yeah - I mean I wouldn’t have asked otherwise”

“I would love to - give me ten minutes to clean up” Belle looked down at her messy clothes “Well maybe make it 15”

“How about I meet you in the garage in an hour and I’ll drive us there?”

“Awesome, see you there”. Belle was off leaving Bucky to shake his head in confusion before packing up the puddings.

The trip to the home had gone better than Bucky could have hoped. Becca had managed to remember who Bucky was and she thought Belle was his gal. When he had tried to correct her Belle had stopped him leaning In to whisper “She likely won’t remember me, let her think what makes her happy”. Belle had helped his sister eat her pudding and Bucky had grinned when she told him it was good but missed the dash of cocoa that their mother had always added, and he made a mental note to add it to the recipe. Glancing over at Belle he say her contentedly looking out the window tapping her fingers in time to the music.

“Thank you Belle, for today. It meant a lot to me”

Belle glanced over “You know Bucky, I’d of gone at the the drop of a hat. Your sister is a lot of fun and it was a really honor to meet her”. Belle watched as Bucky blinked away tears 

“So tell me, who do you think will get the tokens?”

“Now that’s a question…..”


End file.
